A Shropshire advocate with a passion for supporting and speaking out for disabled and vulnerable people is celebrating 15 years working with an independent county charity.
Glenda Crawshaw joined the Shropshire PCAS advocacy charity in 2009 and since then has been helping clients across the county deal with difficult situations and move on with their lives.
“It’s incredibly rewarding when you do achieve a really decent outcome for a client that changes their life – and that does happen regularly,” she said.
Glenda came to PCAS – Person Centred Advocacy and Support – after working for Wrexham County Borough Council adult social care department running a day centre for young adults with an early diagnosis of dementia.
Her first encounter with an advocacy service was when the council proposed closing the day centre and an advocate was brought in to help the day centre staff fight the decision.
“I realised then that I wanted to become an advocate myself and it was absolutely the right choice,” she said.
Glenda, 55, who lives just over the Welsh border near Oswestry, has since qualified in the role gaining her City & Guilds Level 3 Certificate in Independent Advocacy. She is also assistant manager at the charity.
“I’ve such a passion for supporting and speaking up for disabled people, and nothing pleases me more than seeing someone I’ve supported moving on with their life. It can sometimes be a very challenging role, but with the support of everyone involved with our small charity, we support our clients through some very difficult times in their lives.”
Glenda works with up to 30 clients through PCAS covering a wide variety of issues. The case load varies from being with someone to open their mail because they are visually impaired or anxious about the contents to safeguarding roles or a cancer diagnosis.
“I worked with one client in his early 40s who had been placed in a nursing home because there was nothing else available even though he was surrounded by very elderly people many with dementia.
“It took a lot of persistence but we did manage to get him his own place to live independently and he is still there now,” she said.
Most of the PCAS cases are referred to the charity by support agencies such as social workers or occupational therapists and there are also some self-referrals.
“As advocates we are not afraid to challenge decisions if desired and directed by our clients. Sometimes it is daunting to do this alone, but if you have someone by your side, on your side, it suddenly becomes easier. PCAS provides the people who stand by you.”
She said that it was the independent status of PCAS that set it apart from other organisations and was particularly important to her.
“People know that we are not linked to any other organisation or agency and so have no interest other than getting the best outcome for our clients. We always try to work with the agencies because that is the best way of getting a good result but as one of the few independent services our absolute priority is always the well-being of our clients.”
Glenda was recently presented with a bouquet of flowers by PCAS manager Simon Arthur to mark her 15 years with the charity.
“Glenda has been an incredibly dedicated advocate for the last 15 years and we are very grateful to her for all the work she has done for so many PCAS clients. We hope that she will be with us for many more years,” he said.
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